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While he may best be remembered for his classic autobiography Confessions St Augustine was also the author of The Problem of Free Choice which raises many questions and provides answers for a plethora of questions regarding human life and the ability to think He titles one of the sections of his book A Mind is the Slave of Passion Through its Own Choice MS In this section he reveals many interesting thoughts on human nature through dialogue between two characters Augustine and Evodious E and A St Augustine looks to discuss reason knowledge the concept of mind and control over it and passion The conclusion that is reached at the end of MSPOC by E and A is not surprisingly the point of the title itself Throughout most of the dialogue A seeks to show E the error of his ways and to take him step-by-step to discover the power of the mind to govern itselfThe first major point in the text is that living and being conscious of living due to reason is not the same A uses the following logic to show E how humans possess the ability to differentiate between the two Since humans are considered superior to beasts something must obviously be present in humans that does not exist in beasts A asks E Is it what we usually call reason or understanding 716 They agree on this and also on the logical assumption that a man who is alive therefore has reason A continues on to ask E if he believes that living is better than knowing he is alive E answers that knowing he is alive is obviously the more excellent thing A replies that he believes that E then prefers a better life as opposed to a less perfect life As they discuss this St Augustines second point is revealedWhen A asks E if he knows what is better he is questioning Es knowledge Thus arises the issue

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